Osborn does it again
in 30th Annual
Palm Beach Invitational
by John Osborn
Posted February 01, 1998

By now, it should be no surprise to anyone. Osborn has now won singles in the
Palm Beach Croquet Club Invitational seven times, and his win in the most
recent edition (January 12-18, 1998) was his sixth straight. This is the
oldest "serious" American croquet tournament in America, predating the
founding of the USCA by almost a decade. Always a strong tournament, it has a
special significance in 1998: the results are the first to go into the new
USCA Grand Prix game, and again as usual, John Osborn is off to a good lead as
1998's winningest American Rules croquet star.

Resolutions are made to be broken. You promise never to miss that two-foot
wicket, to treat your mallet with more respect, and when you curse your
partner under your breath to really pay attention to that "under the breath"
aspect. These may not be YOUR resolutions, but I am sure they can be claimed
by some. The common belief is that the only promise not broken during the
Palm Beach Invitational was that offered by the club itself - of great
weather, wonderful social events, and very exciting croquet. Not great, but
exciting.

At Sunday's opening party, while President Libby Newell was ringing in the
first tournament of the year with warm wishes, Tournament Director Ted Prentis
was playing with his blocks. And they were everywhere. Depending upon in which
of the four flights you fell, the blocks he offered were crossed, or standard,
or modified. Some blocks led to other blocks while others led to heartache and
plate play. As all of the blocks came tumbling down around them, a few players
actually found themselves in a single elimination ladder, and some of those,
with beautiful trophies.

In the meantime, Assistant Directors Bob Kroeger, Archie Peck and John Osborn
pointed players toward The Breakers, the Beach Club, Palm Beach Polo & Country
Club or PGA National. All in all, everyone managed to find his or her way
to one of the eleven lawns, and if it all sounds confusing, it wasn't. In
fact, the entire event went with great precision and received wonderful
reviews.

No stake-outs on first day of Championship Doubles

Having been privy only to play of the Championship Flight, I apologize to
others by saying that play was, as earlier inferred, not at its best on the
first day. Championship doubles, contested Monday and Thursday, consisted of
one large block of ten teams, each team playing six of the others. By Monday
night, fifteen matches had been played, and of those fifteen, a total of (this
is not an error) zero games finished before the 80-minute time. On the good
side, two winning teams did actually break twenty points, and realizing that
since neither the beautiful lawns at Polo nor the double-banking seemed like a
fair target to blame, all players voted only to hope that no one would notice
the scores.

Leading the field with 3-0 records after the first day of doubles were
D. Grimsley/B. Bessette, B. Kroeger/M.. Zuro and R. Thomas/D. Dribben.

Phaneuf alone undefeated in Championship Singles blocks

Tuesday and Wednesday saw Singles play and new hope. The Championship Flight
consisted of 19 players and, on paper, was quite impressive. The cut-off for
the division was a handicap of 1.5, and though Digby Bridges, a 2-handicapper,
was needed to fill in the slots, Mr. Bridges (3-3) did make it past the initial
stages. Twelve players competed in one cross-block, while the remaining seven
squared off against one another. The top twelve finishers in the flight would
meet in three blocks of four, with the top six there moving to single
elimination.

Impressive play came from John Phaneuf, going 6-0 in initial block play.
Following closely behind with 5-1 records were Palm Beach first-timer Doug
Grimsley (loss to Phaneuf 6-19), John Osborn (loss to Grimsley 20-22) and Bob
Kroeger (loss to Bob Yount 13-17). Notable players who failed to play past
Wednesday were globe-trotting USCA President Dan Mahoney (1-5) and another
Palm Beach newcomer, the mysterious Rebo (1-5), who, due to some work
obligations, was forced to play most of his matches in virtually no time.
Action, as a whole, improved, but those New Year's Eve hangovers still kept
the matches finished in time to only about 20 percent. Most notable match of
block play: a Rhys Thomas 9-8 victory over Bob Cherry.

Kroeger/Zuro and Grimsley/Bessette last survivors in doubles

On Thursday, Doubles block play was completed (with 1of 60 matches finishing
before time). While the team match-ups were quite equal, those who had done
moderately well Monday now coasted, for of the five teams with losing records
going into the day, only the team of J. Osborn/D. Bridges (3-3) would win three
of four to sneak into single elimination. Tournament favorites
D. Grimsley/B. Bessette (4-2) and, in a bit of a surprise, B. Kroeger/M. Zuro (4-2)
received the two byes awarded to the six teams making it to the single
elimination playoffs. Come Saturday, these byes would prove useful.

B. Thomas/D. Dribben (4-2), having eked past Osborn/Bridges, would fall to
Grimsley/Bessette while F. Jones/D. Mayer (3-3) surprised the Rebo/B. Cherry
(4-2) team only to fall to the solid play of Kroeger/Zuro, thus setting up
Sunday's finals.

The twelve are reduced to two: Osborn and Cherry

With only twelve players remaining in Friday's Singles block play, the erratic
play seen throughout the week was certain to create some interesting matches
and situations. In Block One, John Phaneuf continued to improve on his
undefeated record with wins over Digby Bridges (19-10) and Byron Thomas (22-17),
only to confuse even himself with a loss to Neil "Pretty Legs"
Houghton (11-26), thereby giving Houghton (3-0) one of the coveted byes
available in the single elimination of six.

Despite a classic 26-2 victory over Doug Grimsley, Block Two turned into a
road block for Bob Kroeger, where his undefeated streak in singles was halted
with narrow 1-point losses to Dick Brackett (14-15) and Fred Jones (18-19).
Grimsley and Jones would find two wild card spots with 2-1 records.

In Block Three, Bob Cherry breezed by Osborn (17-13), Rhys Thomas (11-10) and
Charlie Evans (26-5) to grab the other bye. The most intriguing moment of the
Block occurred in the Osborn-Thomas match. An "argument" began soon after
Osborn, forgetting to return a ball to it's proper position after hitting a
dead ball, foolishly claimed that the improper new position had been condoned
after Thomas' quickly played shot. As the players tried, quite verbally, to
come to an understanding, a blood-thirsty crowd developed, weighing the size,
speed and mallet weights of the two combatants. Bob Kroeger eventually
regained calm, the disappointed crowd dispersed and Osborn (26-3) picked up the
final wild card with a 2-1 record.

(The worst fight of the week actually occurred that night, when brave Sir
Bingham -"Bingo"-, significant dog of the Osborn/Summers kingdom,
was viciously mauled by a neighborhood canine with, as opposed to Rhys Thomas,
more bite than bark. The croquet world was shocked by the incident, and an
Osborn/Summers spokesperson thanked all for their kind wishes and support.
After a week in the hospital and a slew of stitches, Bingo is now recovering
at home.)

While it appeared as though Grimsley and Osborn were well positioned to meet
each other in the finals, a few matches were still to be played in Saturday's
single elimination ladder. Grimsley was to start off against Fred "the giant
killer" Jones while Osborn had, supposedly, a tougher wild card match against
Phaneuf. Let it be known now that Doug Grimsley does not want his game to be
discussed. He doesn't want it talked about, thought about, or even mentioned.
(He's killed people for less, we think.) That aside: while Grimsley was doing
everything wrong and acquiring more deadness than thought possible, Jones kept
enough of his head to survive the match with both smile and body.

The Osborn - Phaneuf match, double banked upon the same lawn, proved to be a
better one technically, but less so in terms of pure drama. Phaneuf, who had
won his first eight singles matches, would lose his last two, this one
included. Unlike Grimsley, Phaneuf is always happy to talk about, well,
anything.

While the two long-shots, "Giant Killer" Jones and "Pretty Legs" Houghton, put
up a good show, Bob Cherry and John Osborn proved to be too much for each of
them respectively, thus setting up an Osborn - Cherry final. Congratulations
should be offered to both Fred and Neil for an impressive, handicap lowering,
great finish! Neil's 3rd place victory over Fred was certainly one of his best
results ever!

Finals Day at the Breakers

The week had been full of social events. The opening party at Club Colette
offered, seriously, both a wonderful dinner and great atmosphere! Pat
Supper's cocktail party was a huge success. Dan and Susanne Mahoney opened up
their new house for both a fun and festive participant's dinner. And yet it
is always Sunday's Finals Luncheon at the Breakers Hotel which truly gives all
players a chance to swap war stories, plan the future, laugh, perhaps pick up
a trophy, and, this year, check on Bingo's status.

Grimsley/Bessette win wild and crazy doubles final

But before the winning players had a chance to pick up their beautiful and
rare Verdite carved stone trophies (reputable witch doctors believe the stone
increases fertility), both the doubles and singles final matches were to be
played. They would be complete contrasts in approach.

The Doubles Final pitted the wild and crazy Butch Bessette and Doug "I don't
want to talk about that game!" Grimsley against the even-tempered duo of Bob
Kroeger and Mike Zuro.

Despite the fact that this was the first time some of these players had ever
competed upon the small but fast and tricky Breakers lawns, the game was
anything but conservative or dull. Zuro began play immediately with a nice
hit-in but regrouped after wicket three. Attacks and breaks were exchanged
back and forth without much advancement until a Zuro mistake got Grimsley a
break to rover. Unable to promote Bessette, and after a bad position play by
Bessette, Zuro attempted a rout to Bessette's ball. Unfortunately, the rout
was less than brilliant, leaving Kroeger a difficult attempt on a dangerous
boundary. When the shot dive-tailed, Bessette was left with the finishing
break, a 26-8 Grimsley/Bessette victory and the Supper Cup!

One millimeter or another, the game's non-stop action was a delight to the
crowd. Byron Thomas and Dana Dribben defeated Fred Jones and Dwight Mayer for
third place.

Cherry works hard, but Osborn rakes in the trophy

The Osborn-Cherry Singles Final proved interesting for numerous reasons. Bob
Cherry had beaten Osborn in Friday's Block play (17-13). In fact, he was
making a habit of beating Osborn, and he was playing well. Still, Cherry was
not familiar with the lawn, and, perhaps, unaccustomed to the large crowd
hovering just inches from the boundary lines. Osborn, on the other hand, was
looking for his sixth straight title in this event, knew the lawns well, but
was still shaken by the terrible Bingo attack. All the spectators expected a
match as equally action-packed as the doubles.

The match was anything but. After some chaos at the first wicket, Osborn
grabbed a wicket here and there. As it turned out, Cherry was the aggressive
player once all balls were in play, trying croquet outs and showing great
touch as he hit boundary opponent balls from great distances. As it turned
out, five brilliant moments of great shooting left Cherry with only five
wickets and deadness from which he would not recover.

Surprisingly, Osborn did anything but jump at the opportunity. Instead, he
seemed content to make one wicket at a time and slowly regroup, playing no
shot unless he was certain of it or was given more to work with. With both
balls for one back, Osborn surprisingly made the wicket with one ball and
retired to the deathly first corner. While the crowd now expected another
flurry of Cherry bombs to be tossed at Osborn, Cherry suddenly became
cautious. This was a mistake. Osborn scored two-back, attacked for break by
the third corner, ran to Rover and set partner. Aside from a missed peg-out in
last turn, the game was over for a 25-5 victory and the Tankoos Trophy for
Osborn and his best friend, Bingo.

In the First Flight Singles, steady Jim Spoonhour defeated Bill Luke, while
Art and Kit Crowley captured the Second and Third Flights over John Perkins
and Carol Lembo. First Flight Doubles was captured by Dave Hull/Paula Phaneuf
over Chuck Loving/Oreste Passarelli, Second Flight by Lloyd Smith/JoAnne
Nappi over Ted Truman/Lone Schweitzer, and the Third Flight winners were Ben
Smith/Margaret Hull over Zelda Burke/Joy Guernsey-Diesel. (Apologies to these
winners for the inability to witness their fine victories.)

Overall, the 30th year of the Palm Beach Invitational proved to be one of the
best for sportsmanship and fine times. With Libby Newell's leadership and Ted
Prentis' fine tournament direction, even those with broken resolutions walked
away with a knowing smile and fond memories of beautiful weather, croquet
lawns, and people. Since this year, even some of those invited responded too
late to be included, everyone should start making their plans now. See you
next tournament! (Arf Arf!!!)